


Leave So Soon

by Anniecat



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, You might cry, i cried while writing it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 15:03:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2472557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anniecat/pseuds/Anniecat





	Leave So Soon

A terminal illness was a cruelly ironic end to a medic.

After Apollo's stunt with Octavian, Zeus found it necessary to punish him one way or another. But this time, Zeus didn't punish Apollo directly. He found it imperative that his kids felt his wrath. Which was why Will Solace now had cancer.

Will's sentence seemed not to affect just Apollo, but Nico di Angelo as well. As the doctor who he had grown to love slowly deteriorated into the weak being that he was now, Nico stayed by his bedside 24/7. The son of Hades literally lived in the infirmary.

But Nico knew that on December 29, William Solace would pass to Hades' realm, and Nico was helpless to do anything about it.

It was three days before Will's death. Will had a strange request for Nico. "Nico, I want you to get all of my things and burn them with me." Nico stared at Will wide eyes. Although his golden waves had fallen out and his once tan skin has been reduced to a sickly pale, his eyes shone as they had before. Nico swallowed.

"All of your stuff? Why?" Will laughed, but it was a hollow laugh that Nico only had heard ghosts use.

"I don't know. It's just something I've always wanted to do, and now seems like a perfect time to do it."

So Nico gathered all of Will's things from his camp cot, which had been out of commission since Zeus' curse kicked in. Surprisingly enough, Will had few possessions, which included a gold cuff, a sketchbook full of halfway decent art(admittedly mainly of Nico), and exuberant amount of sweatshirts(which Nico grabbed one for himself). In all, Will's belongings were only about a plastic tub full, and Nico could easily carry it to the place in the woods that they had planed to have the conflagration. Around noon, Nico helped Will into his wheelchair. When they got to the fire ring, Will grinned up at Nico like a child on Christmas.

"Thank you, Nico." Nico gave him a weak smile, but his eyes were filled with tears. He pulled out a lighter, crouching down near the pile. Will wheeled himself forward, touching Nico on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, sunshine, I got this." Will kissed Nico on the cheek and produced a box of matches from his jacket. His shaky fingers managed to extract one from the box, and with a couple tries, produced a large flame on the matchstick. He quickly dropped it, and rapidly wheeled back to the trees.

The fire caught slowly, but once everything was engulfed in the inferno, it seemed to lessen at a rapid pace. Nico watched it, mesmerized by the immensity of the flames. The flames roared on until the final item was turned to ash. Nico, who was a major growth spurt when he was fifteen, took a seat next to Will's wheelchair. Will meekly lowered himself onto Nico's blanket. He rested his head on Nico's stomach, and closed his eyes. 

"Nico?' Will's voice was choked up by sobs.

"Yeah?"Nico took a deep breath, elevating Will's head a little.

"I love you." Will drifted off to sleep.

✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴

Will died at 23 years, 5 months, and 17 days old on the date Nico's death powers had foreseen at 4:33 PM. That day, Most of the campers had visited him, either in person or Iris Message to say farewell before his passing. But Will got that out of the way fast so his last moments could be spent with Nico di Angelo. Just before his eyes closed for the final time, his pulled Nico in close and kissed him for a final time. At 4: 31 PM, Will whispered into Nico's ear ever so delicately, "I'm sorry I had to leave so soon."


End file.
